Air mile Credit cards that work on all airlines

Many air mile credit cards are limited to a single airline.  However there are other credit cards that offer air miles that can be redeemed on a wide range of airlines.  Whether a traveller should take one type or other of an air mile credit card depends on what sort of traveller they will be, whether they are likely to be loyal to one airline or whether they are likely to look around for the best flight.

An open air miles card can have its air miles redeemed with a number of different airlines.  However they are not integrated into a frequent flyer programme and the rewards will be of a lower value as like most credit cards the less flexible the rewards programme the greater the value of rewards.  This is compensated for by the fact that the air miles can be redeemed against a large number of carriers.  It is often possible, if putting in the work to shop around, to get far further with the rewards from the credit cards.  It also means that there is less danger that the rewards programme does not cover the destination that the traveller wants to get to.

Some of the open air miles credit cards are tied to the Fly Buys scheme, which started out as an airline programme but is now a more general shopping rewards programme.  The fly buys programme can be redeemed against a number of shops.  It is not a normal air miles rewards programme as it does not reward all shopping on the card, only the shopping that is done with certain retailers.

The best person for an airline tied card will be the sort of traveller who only has one, or perhaps two, destinations that they fly to on a regular basis.  It may also work for someone who lives close to a large airline’s “hub airport” offering a large number of flights.  Alternatively, the employer may insist that a certain airline has to be used on job related travel.  If these travellers do decide to use a card tied to an airline, they will not be able to use these miles with another airline although they are usually more integrated into the air mile rewards programme and the miles that they will be able to use are usually more than is available on a more open air miles card.  They also tend to have lower fees, less onerous conditions and lower interest rates than a more open card system.